Modeling Sunflower Sea Star declines

Between 2013 and 2015, sea star wasting disease swept across the west coast of North America, decimating populations of many species of sea stars. The Sunflower Sea Star, a keystone mesopredator, was hit the hardest by the wasting epidemic, and has been listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. To support this species' recovery, I helped lead the Canadian status report for Sunflower Sea Stars for COSEWIC. I developed a new modeling framework to integrate data from scientific studies and community science monitoring programs to improve our estimates of decline. 

Nutrient provisioning in seagrass meadows

In the first summer of my PhD, I travelled to the Cape Eleuthera Institute in Rock Sound, The Bahamas, to investigate the role sea cucumbers play in nutrient provisioning in seagrass meadows. I examined the response of seagrass to the complete and partial removal of sea cucumbers across 21 patch reefs. This work will provide greater insight into the ecosystem-level effects of sea cucumber fisheries. You can find a more detailed summary of this work in my Three Minute Thesis talk! 

Nutrient provisioning in seagrass meadows

In the first summer of my PhD, I travelled to the Cape Eleuthera Institute in Rock Sound, The Bahamas, to investigate the role sea cucumbers play in nutrient provisioning in seagrass meadows. I examined the response of seagrass to the complete and partial removal of sea cucumbers across 21 patch reefs. This work will provide greater insight into the ecosystem-level effects of sea cucumber fisheries. You can find a more detailed summary of this work in my Three Minute Thesis talk!​

Parasitism in lizards

Before I took the plunge into the marine realm, I was a terrestrial biologist in the Herpetology Lab at the University of Ottawa. In my Honours thesis I studied the factors influencing parasite load in Clark's Spiny Lizards in the Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona. Check out that work here.